Thursday, December 22, 2016

The Bullets Of An Assassin: Nothing Is Beyond the Pale.

The bullets of an assassin shook the world on
Monday. Shot from behind by a former Turkish police officer, at an art gallery
in Ankara, right across the street from the US embassy, the Russian ambassador
to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, a man with a long and distinguished career in the
Soviet and Russian Foreign Service, died on the spot.

Those who are behind this assassination, for no one can believe that
this man acted alone, are exposed by the slogan he shouted after the murder,
“Don’t forget Aleppo.” They are exposed by the words and photos which were
quickly splashed across the front pages of the western media and set in an
editorial context that implicitly condoned the act. The Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, and the BBC made sure those words were in their headlines and the
lead paragraphs of their stories, as did the New York Times and the rest. The
New York Times posted a photo of the assassin standing with his arm raised in
the air, as if an actor in a Hollywood action film, beginning his
transformation from terrorist assassin into a martyr “for Aleppo and the people
of Syria.” A fanatic acted out his part in life and they will make sure he
continues to act it out in death. A member of the Ukraine parliament has
already called the assassin a “martyr.”

The western governments issued the required condemnations of the
assassination but who can believe their sincerity? For years now the NATO
governments have been attacking Russia through illegal economic blockades they
call “sanctions,” have physically attacked Russia through Chechnya, Georgia,
and Ukraine, have advanced NATO’s military forces right up to the Russian
border, put out endless false stories about Russia’s actions and policies,
generated a sewer of anti-Russian propaganda in the media and in NATO
government statements, killed Russian officers and pilots trying to counter their
proxy terrorists forces in Syria, attacked the Russian consulate in Damascus
several times, fabricated stories of crimes, and during the American
presidential election and its aftermath have descended into the depths of
insanity by accusing Russia of trying to influence that process.

So, their regrets are worth nothing. It is obvious that this
assassination was meant to delay a Turkish-Russian rapprochement, but it was
also to punish Russia for its assistance to the government of Syria in
liberating Aleppo. In light of President Obama’s ridiculous statement that he
knew President Putin was behind alleged attempts to fix the US election while
refusing to offer any evidence of this absurd claim, we must remember his
dangerous promise to strike back at Russia in retaliation and must consider
whether this was part of that retaliation, for the assassination took place
within a few days of Obama making his “a time and place of our choosing”
statement.

President Putin, along with President Erdogan referred to the murder
“as a provocation aimed at derailing Russia-Turkey ties and the peace process
in Syria.” Putin stressed, “We must know who steered the killer’s course.”

Since the only party conceivably interested in or could benefit from
such a provocation is NATO and its allies, Russia is really saying that they
are behind this, though caution is their watchword and the investigation has
only begun. The Syrian Peoples’ Assembly in Damascus stated Tuesday that, “This
cowardly act of terror is a stain on the forehead of the countries
supporting terrorism and demands legal accountability at the international
level.”

The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, stated that, ““Both
Turkey and Russia realize that the attack was aimed at damaging bilateral
relations and compromising the achievements that have been made recently.
Turkey and Russia should not let the organizers’ of this crime reach their
goals. We should find out who is behind this heinous crime. We can succeed if
we work together…the masterminds of the Russian ambassador’s murder wanted to
harm the Russian-Turkish relations, but Moscow and Ankara should not allow
terrorists to achieve this goal.”

The Russian foreign minister, Serge Lavrov, stated similarly, “The main
aim of the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey is the desire to
undermine the process of normalization of Russian-Turkish relations and to
prevent the effective fight of the two countries against terrorism in Syria. We
are confident that the main aim of those who plotted this barbaric thing was to
undermine the process of normalization of relations between Russia and Turkey
in order to prevent effective fight against terrorism in Syria.”

But we can be sure that it will not stop developing relations between
Turkey and Russia. If the Turks convince the Russians they had nothing to do
with it, that it was connected to the FETO organisation whose leader Fetullah
Gulen is in the United States, living under American protection, though he has
denied it, or to the terrorist organisations they have been supporting in
Syria, and the western intelligence and military services supporting them, then
it is likely to push Russia, Turkey and Iran, closer together against a common
enemy. And, indeed, this appears to be the case as those three nations went
ahead with talks in Moscow on Tuesday to forge a way ahead to a peaceful
resolution of the war in Syria.

But the willingness to assassinate an ambassador means that we can
expect the US and its allies to develop new actions in Syria against the Syrian
government and Russia and their allies, just as they have reverted back to new
sanctions against Iran in violation of their agreement with Iran. The Americans
are still invading Syria every day, sending in forces, setting up camps flying
American flags, acting as an occupation force along with British, French and
other forces and so far the Syrians have not dared to touch them. But so long
as those bases are allowed to remain, committing their act of aggression
against Syria, they will be the source of more violence and chaos.

Would NATO be willing to assassinate an ambassador? We need only remind
ourselves of their attempt to assassinate the Chinese ambassador Pan Zhan Lin
in Belgrade in the NATO attack on Yugoslavia in 1999. Five guided missiles were
fired at the Chinese embassy from an American aircraft. The one aimed at the
ambassador’s room luckily did not explode but 4 other diplomatic staff were
killed and 20 injured. Various reasons have been suggested for US bombing of
the Chinese embassy but the Chinese ambassador stated later that it was meant
to break the will of the Yugoslav government by making it clear to its allies
that continuing to support the Yugoslav government was dangerous.

Similarly this assassination was also meant to break the will of Syria
by making it clear to its Russian ally that continuing to support Syria in its
war against the US proxy force attacking the country is dangerous on every
level. It is a threat against President Erdogan as well, since it is clear that
his purge of those who tried to overthrow him in July has not succeeded in
eliminating those who want to bring him down and stop reconciliation with
Russia. It also is an attempt to block President–elect Trump from advancing
better relations with Russia, and at the same time can be used, along with the
seemingly random terror attack on civilians in Berlin by unknown agents, to
support the NATO countries push for more war in Syria, allegedly to root out
“terrorists.” These events do not occur in isolation. One has to wonder further
whether the assassination was a set up for something else, false flag
operations in the Baltic or elsewhere conducted by NATO forces but to be blamed
on a Russia intent on revenge for the murder of its ambassador. Nothing is
beyond the pale for NATO and their secret services.

Christopher Black is an international
criminal lawyer based in Toronto. He is known for a number of high-profile war
crimes cases and recently published his novel “Beneath the
Clouds. He writes essays on international law, politics and world events,
especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”

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